Cayley Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Cayley Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders and staff want what is best for pupils at this school. Everyone embraces and understands the school values.

This forms a strong basis to support pupils' awareness and understanding of the wider world.

Leaders and teachers know pupils well, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Relationships between pupils and staff are professional, respectful and warm.

Leaders welcome pupils at the school gate each morning. This sets the tone for the day and reflects the strong emphasis that school staff place on nurturing pupils' well-being. Pu...pils are kept safe and feel safe because staff know them so well.

Adults have high expectations for pupils' learning and behaviour. Pupils rise to these expectations. They want to be successful.

Pupils are enthusiastic about their learning. They work hard and behave well in class and around the school. Pupils said that bullying happens infrequently and that they can talk to any adult if they are worried about something.

They know that adults will sort things out if problems arise.

Pupils make a positive contribution to school life through taking on various leadership roles. For example, some enjoying being eco-warriors or a member of the pupil parliament.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders have designed a well-thought-out, ambitious curriculum that carefully sets out the knowledge and skills that they want pupils to learn. The curriculum is sequenced so that pupils build on what they have learned before. However, in a small number of subjects, leaders are fine tuning this.

For example, in music, leaders are still working out the order in which subject content should be taught and recapped.

Subject leaders know their subjects well. They provide teachers with expert training.

This ensures that teachers select activities that help pupils to progress through the planned curriculum. Teachers check regularly what pupils know and can do. They ensure that pupils revisit past work to help with new learning.

Pupils demonstrate that they have a secure knowledge of topics they have previously learned. In mathematics, for example, Year 6 pupils recall, with accuracy, the value of each digit to three decimal places. They use what they know to tackle mathematical problems.

Teachers regularly review and adapt the provision for pupils with SEND. They focus on making sure that pupils access the same curriculum as their peers, and subsequently achieve their best.

Leaders prioritise reading.

They make sure that all staff are well trained. As a result, phonics is taught well. Children in the early years follow the phonics programme as soon as they start school.

Most pupils build a strong understanding of phonics and quickly learn how to read well. Pupils are given frequent opportunities to practise reading, and they listen to stories read by staff each day. Leaders have ensured that pupils who are at risk of falling behind receive extra practice with reading in school.

This builds their vocabulary and fluency while broadening their exposure to a range of authors. Although most pupils quickly learn to read, a few still struggle. On occasion, the books that these pupils practise reading with are not matched sharply to the sounds that they are learning.

Teachers present information clearly and have good subject knowledge. They encourage pupils to use subject terminology accurately. In mathematics, for example, teachers make sure that pupils use the correct terminology when talking about their learning and their reasoning.

Children in the early years are enthusiastic about their learning. Staff teach children songs and rhymes to help them learn important knowledge such as mathematics facts. Leaders have carefully considered how the environment can support children's development in each curriculum area.

This helps to make sure that children are well prepared for Year 1.

Pupils are rarely distracted in lessons. They have positive attitudes to learning.

Leaders provide for pupils' wider development well. Pupils are taught to care for the environment and for each other. They learn about understanding difference and celebrate diversity.

Pupils are encouraged to become aware of themselves as members of a local community and the wider world. The trips that pupils go on are planned carefully with the aim of helping them to remember what they have studied in class. Pupils have many opportunities to participate in different clubs and activities, such as mindfulness, drama club and choir.

Leaders give staff well-being careful consideration. They make sure that expectations for planning and assessment are manageable. Staff feel valued and work together so pupils learn well.

New senior leadership has dealt with recent instability in staffing effectively, including inducting and supporting new staff.

Members of the governing body hold leaders to account, while also being supportive. They have a good oversight of the strengths and next steps for the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff understand their responsibility to safeguard pupils. This includes having robust checks in place to ensure that all adults are safe to work with children.

Well-established systems are in place to make sure that all staff know how to keep pupils safe. Adults are well trained, enabling them to identify and support pupils who are at risk of harm. Staff swiftly report concerns which are carefully recorded and followed through by leaders.

Leaders have ensured that the curriculum supports pupils' understanding of risk, including how to stay safe online and in the community. Pupils feel safe. They know the steps to take if they have a concern.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Leaders have recently revised their curriculum in some subjects with the aim of ensuring that pupils build knowledge sequentially. Not all of these plans have been implemented fully. This affects how well some pupils learn the intended curriculum in some subjects.

Leaders should continue their work to ensure that the well-sequenced curriculum is implemented in all subject areas. They should monitor closely the success of these plans by checking what pupils know and remember. ? In a few instances, reading books are not as precisely matched as they could be to pupils' stage of phonics learning.

When this happens, it means that the regular reading practice is not as helpful in strengthening fluency. Leaders should continue with their efforts to ensure that all reading books align precisely with pupils' needs.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called an ungraded inspection and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in June 2012.